The invention relates generally to non-destructive removal of an integrated circuit chip from a printed circuit board. In particular, the invention relates to a fixture enabling the mechanical severing of the ball grid array that attaches an integrated chip to a printed circuit board.
High-density microelectronics incorporate various package types, of which ball grid array (BGA) integrated circuit chip packaging is the most widely employed for attaching a high I/O pin-count integrated circuit chip to a printed circuit board (PCB). In harsh environments and when reliability is critical, under-fill (epoxy filler) is incorporated between the BGA and the PCB to mitigate thermal expansion mismatching of the various materials, as well as to provide corrosion resistance. In the presence of underfill, removing the BGA from the PCB cannot be performed reliably without serious damage of at least one of these components.
After assembly, a need for the BGA package to be safely removed or replaced on the printed circuit board may exist for many reasons but mostly often for failure analysis reasons. Currently, there are no documented methods for preserving both the circuit board and the BGA package without a high likelihood of damaging one or both of the items. The only documented methods involve mechanically shearing the BGA while applying heat. Either of which can produce damage or mask the failure mechanism.